Former state Supreme Court Justice Helen Hoens, shown here in a 2010 file photo, saw her pension cut in half when Gov. Chris Christie replaced her on the high court earlier this year.Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger

TRENTON — When Gov. Chris Christie removed Justice Helen Hoens from the state Supreme Court this year, he not only cut short her judicial career by a decade — he also halved Hoens’ pension.

Denied tenure by Christie in August, Hoens departed the high court after 19 years and seven months as a state judge. With 20 years on the bench, she would have been eligible for a pension of nearly $140,000 a year.

Instead, Hoens’ pension will yield nearly $73,000 annually once she turns 60 next year, according to the state Treasury Department.

Hoens declined an interview request, and a spokeswoman for the court declined to comment on Hoens’ pension.

In recent months, however, state lawmakers from both parties have been quietly discussing whether they could salvage it.

"We have to respect what people have given up, and we should not destroy people’s careers for ancillary reasons," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said in an earlier interview.

But the only person who could intercede at this point is Christie, according to the state Treasury Department and the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services — and even that’s not a sure thing.

If Hoens were reappointed by the governor to a lower court, after serving five months, she could retire with 20 years as a state judge under her belt and receive a pension worth $123,000 a year, according to the Treasury Department.

The prospect of converting a Supreme Court justice into a judge, however, has never come up in state history because Christie is the first governor to deny tenure to sitting justices.

"There’s no legal guidance on this question and it would have to be determined by the attorney general or a court," said Treasury spokesman Bill Quinn.

"Someone has to make a decision, should it be permitted?"

Pamela Espenshade, a pension expert at the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, agreed. "It’s a relatively new phenomenon that justices don’t get reappointed," she said. "You don’t have people bouncing in and out the same way."

Uncharted territory

Most public workers can leave their jobs and return within two years before the state closes their pension accounts.

There is nothing in state law establishing a similar time limit for judges, but Assignment Judge Lee Solomon of Camden County — who left the bench for slightly less than two years to run the Board of Public Utilities under Christie — was able to keep his pension intact.

Solomon’s first term as a judge spanned from 2006 to early 2010. He returned to his robes in late 2011.

"They have got my four years in my (pension) account," Solomon said through the judiciary’s spokeswoman, Winnie Comfort.

In August, the governor said he passed on Hoens because he wanted to spare her a rough confirmation hearing in the Democratic-controlled state Senate. The Republican justice is married to Christie’s health care adviser, Robert Schwaneberg, a former Star-Ledger reporter.

But Democrats have said since that they would have confirmed her.

State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R-Somerset) said he was shocked when Hoens told him about the situation.

"That’s a shame — not that she was in it for the pension, but there’s definitely a downside," Bateman told the Asbury Park Press, which first reported on Hoens’ pension shortfall.